Page 80 of Dead Serious Case 4 Professor Prometheus Plume

He pins his lips together and mimes locking them before immediately opening them again and starting to talk.

“That’s so amazing! I can’t believe you get to talk to all the ghosts. Are there lots of them? I bet they have amazing stories! You’ll have to tell me who you’ve met so far. This is the best night ever! Although not for poor Professor Plume, I guess. Oh my god, have you seen the ghost of the professor? Is he haunting the hotel now?”

“Please stop talking.”

“I can’t help it, this is brilliant.” He jiggles on the spot like he’s wired into the mains.

“Don’t your batteries ever run out?”

“No, I can get by on very little sleep.” He beams at me. “Oh my goodness, I’m so happy I met you. You’re such a fun, lovely person to be around, and you have a really cool superpower. I know you’ll be going home after this weekend, but you should totally come back and visit. I know we’re going to be friends, or maybe I can message you.” He throws his arms around me and hugs me, adding a little sway at the end. “Best night ever! Or.. well, you know…” He waves his hand and giggles. “We should get going if we want to find the body before everyone else.”

“This isn’t a treasure hunt.”

“That would be a brilliant idea for Halloween! I should tell Rosie before I forget.” He grins again and darts off.

“Is everything okay?” Danny asks as I approach him.

“I think I’ve just been adopted by Ellis,” I say, somewhat bemused. “It’s like being run over by a very chatty, velvet-lined steamroller and then hugged at the end.”

Danny snorts. “How bad is it?”

He lifts his chin towards the spot where I was standing.

“All the ghosts have assembled to search for the body.” I sigh. “It’s like a nightmare I can’t wake up from. We’re definitely going to Malaga next time.”

Danny smiles and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Come on, love, let’s go supervise the body hunt.”

It is weird that it no longer sounds weird?

20

“So you got to speak to him,” Danny says in a low voice as we search the lounge. “What did he say?”

“Professor Plume?” I frown. “He said that he didn’t want to talk about it and kinda looked embarrassed.” I lower my voice even further to an almost whisper, glancing over my shoulder at Ruby and Grey, who are searching beside a sofa. They don’t look too bothered about finding the body. “I think he knows exactly who killed him and my money’s on the wife and her lover.”

“It’s always the partner,” Dusty says, waving a hand from where she is sprawled out like Jean Harlow on a pale pink sofa.

“Dusty, are you going to actually help?” I whisper. “It’s been hours and we still haven’t found the body. I mean how many bloody places are there that you can hide the corpse of a six-foot man?”

“You’d be surprised,” Danny rumbles next to me.

“Isn’t this insane?” I ask him, once again glancing over my shoulder to make sure Ruby and Grey can’t hear. “We could actually be trapped in a room with a murderer.”

“It isn’t a horror movie, Tris,” Danny replies in that calm, unflappable way of his. “They’re not going to pick us off one by one. I get the impression that whoever killed the professor, it was personal. I don’t think anyone else is in any immediate danger. Although…” He peers over his shoulder. “It does pay to be wary.”

“Do you think the police will be able to get to us?” I ask worriedly. “I mean, it’s so dark outside, and we don’t know how deep the snow actually is.”

“Up north we’re a bit more prepared for this type of weather than you southern softies.” He grins. “They’ll find a way.”

I huff. “I really don’t want to have to explain to them how the hell we’ve managed to lose a body. Professionally, it’s very embarrassing.”

“We’ll find him,” Danny promises. “Perhaps we should…” He trails off and turns to stare at the wall. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Cold air.” He lifts his hand. “It’s a draught.”

“Well, it is an old building,” I point out. “It’s also the dead of night in the middle of a snowstorm.”